Some time ago, I sent out emails to several artists and asked them if they would be willing to submit music on a cassette provided by me that would be exclusive to Raised by Gypsies. The idea is that I would write about the music, trying to tell you about it but having it also be something you can't necessarily hear. Though then it was realized that it could be made digitally for you to hear, the fact is it still remains with the sort of idea that I'm at least trying to present this music to you via cassette though I'm not officially trying to sell you on a cassette.
The first submission in this Exclusive Cassette Review Series comes from one of my personal favorite artists Static/Voice/Static. When I think back on the journey I took from the first Static/Voice/Static cassette I heard up until now it's just been fabulous. I don't know who at home is keeping score or if it even matters, but I will soon be approaching my 1000th Cassette Review and while I'm not willing to go through and count which label I have reviewed the most cassettes from I can tell you without hesitation that the most cassettes I reviewed by a single artist was for Static/Voice/Static.
With Static/Voice/Static I think I keep coming back to the music because you never really know what you're going to get but you just know it's going to be good. I imagine these being created in some sort of mad scientist manner, where someone is in their lab mixing things together and even though they have that knowledge and expertise behind them a lot of what is going into the creation does seem to occur on the spot and so the result could potentially be anything from the cure for cancer to Godzilla.
This becomes apparent on this cassette as many of the sounds heard seem to repeat themselves in an endless loop. The thing about it though- and why I love S/V/S- is that it doesn't feel reptitive and it doesn't make you wonder when it will change, but rather it seems hypnotyzing. It really just reaches that point where instead of saying "Oh, I've had enough of this", your mind instead becomes entranced by it. The sound takes you over and it becomes you.
Times like these it makes me believe that Static/Voice/Static isn't so much of the project of someone sitting there with sheet music, making certain each note is tuned to perfection but rather I feel as if the artist is actually engulfed by the rhythm of the sounds just as well as the listener. It is the idea that the hypnotist not only is putting a spell on you but on themselves at the same time, but yet they are still the one to break it and so you have to recognize that talent within there.
Perhaps the biggest factor to remember with Static/Voice/Static is the name though. There are static waves on this cassette as well as vocals sort of blended into the background, ringing in drones with that Ghost in the Machine type of feel. You might not always get the voice, but you know that you will at least be getting the static when you listen to S/V/S. It's something that I've come to count on and it often brings with it a certain level of darkness and ambience at the same time.
From release to release it is not always easy to predict what the future will hold for Static/Voice/Static but you can bet that it will be good. Editions which were once much smaller have grown in numbers and still continue to sell out. Something is being done worth listening to here, there is no doubt about that, it's really just a question as to why you haven't jumped aboard yet. There is no better time than the present to dub Static/Voice/Static your new favorite artist so you should definitely get in now.
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